'Well, that was very anticlimactic in the end.' Clark mused in silence as he followed a slow trail from behind a middle aged man in sect uniform.
He would have wanted to take pleasure in the pain of others to let those despicable men taste at least a portion of what they had inflicted unto others but the experience has only let our bored gamer feel unsatisfied in the aftermath.
It was an empty feeling and quite very unmistakable in all the things he had ever encountered in the past.
'I really can't repay evil with the same kind of evil after all. They knew each other in the first place and are practically kin in all intent and purposes.
Next time, I will kill them fast and grant a quick and painless death to my foes.'
Our conscientious protagonist knew where his mistakes lied and he was rather adamant to never do the same error ever again.
He looked around him and their numbers had grown since they had initially started their travel.
An addition of 20 or so young men and ladies followed closely behind the slow procession towards the inner sanctum of the Demonic Sword Sect.
These were the accumulated entrants of the sect.
The teens matured way before their time as their eyes hardened with unnatural vigor that was not expected to be seen from young souls like them.
Perhaps the girls had it worse but nevertheless, they never showed their weakness up front but only masked it with a vivid and almost unbelievable hunger for power and strength.
With just a glance, Clark could see the obvious look of unyielding determination in their eyes.
Our good gamer sighed deeply as he tried to forget the fate of those weaker children in the hands of the sadistic Outer Disciples.
He could feel the hate rise in his gut but forced these negative emotions down with only sheer will alone.
"How far are we, Wu Da?" Clark asked in a voice that was filled with unrestrained fury.
Although he could not openly destroy this Demonic Sword Sect but at least, he would not fake his real emotions in front of abominable men like this Outer Disciple Wu Da.
The last surviving member in the party of seven Outer Disciples from earlier.
"We will arrive there in less than five minutes, Young Master Clark."
Wu Da trembled visibly in place. He almost stumbled in how abruptly he paused to cater the sudden question of this cruel monster he only knew as Young Master Clark.
"Hmmm... I see. Let's continue at this pace." Our bored gamer said unto the terrified Wu Da.
"As you wish, Young Master!" Wu Da almost ran in fear to get away as far as possible from the scourge that confined him tightly even without the use of solid chains on his body.
The dread he felt was unbreakable and pretty much palpable in the air.
'I don't look that frightening at all, right? Or am i?' Clark asked himself and could not help but sport a fleeting smile on his face.
He looked at the middle aged man Wu Da and witnessed that the man's injuries have been artificially healed for the moment. At least it seemed that way from the outside.
Clark had of course given time for the Outer Disciple to recuperate his wounds wherein which the latter also did not waste by just sitting idly by.
With a single pill popped in his mouth, the gashes and open wounds closed themselves up in an instant.
There were indeed some miraculous concoction of pills in this xianxia world that Earth, in all its advancement in science and technology, could still not able to stand in comparison at all.
'Hmmm... At least with an undead summon behind to supervise those people, I don't think that Du Ping will have a hard time in maintaining peace and order while I'm away.'
Clark nodded in approval of what he did.
Since he had seen how sorry the living conditions were of those people, it would be too cruel for him to turn a blind eye on the suffering of others.
'Some wouldn't like those changes at all but they could always leave the sect entirely if they can't anymore take the mandatory rule that I implemented on them and their respected factions.'
Clark finished with these thoughts and took solace in the subdued silence that joined them along their short trek.
No more than four minutes later and the group has finally arrived at the last partition of the sect.
Wu Da raised his sect token which took the form of a wooden stele that has the sect insignia of the Demonic Sword Sect at its center.
A bloody sword was seen decorating from within its corners and it was so realistic to the naked eyes of its observers.
"We're here, Young Master Clark. While we are in the sect, we can now use flying swords for faster travel." Wu Da bowed low and called forth his flying sword into the open.
"Okay. Wan Fei, Ning Xi, can you please take the children with you?"
Clark motioned to the boys and girls and was not the least bit ashamed to call them as such even if their exterior age wasn't that all far different from him in fact.
But he was also certainly not wrong in doing so because in reality, he was already aged more than one hundred years than his peers of today.
"A simple matter, Clark." Wan Fei nodded and gazed at the hardened youth around her. Most of the 21 young boys and girls were only at the 1st Stage of Mortal Shedding Realm.
"Come along now, child." The Queen of Haran invited the 18 year old girl nearest her position. She summoned her flying sword next and took the cold sweaty hands of the girl.
She could not imagine what hellish nightmare this little child had been through and did not at all dare to fathom the extent of the trauma in this girl's psyche.
'At least for now... you will have a refuge away from those demons, little girl.' Wan Fei sighed and gathered ten passengers more on her flying sword.
On the side, Princess Ning Xi mirrored her mother's actions. But unlike Wan Fei, the kind young lady of Haran could not help but wear her heart out on her sleeves.
Tears were gently flowing down her pink cheeks as she murmured sweet soothing words to the otherwise stoic appearances of the 10 Young Masters and Young Misses atop her own flying sword.
Clark looked at this with cold eyes and a more colder heart.
"Lai Peng, Lian Li and Lian Ah, come with me."
"Yes, master."
"Okay, Young Master Clark."
"Yes, Young Master Clark!" The three slaves responded quickly and at this time, each of them were already well aware of our good protagonist's change in name.
They had no question for this alone as they were all trained to follow orders in the long years of their training in the household of Lu.
And if they had doubts about this abrupt change of name then they had all but kept it hidden within the confines of their minds alone.
Unspoken and very much secret from all others but themselves.
"Lead the way, Wu Da." Clark instructed after everyone got on board the four flying swords that hovered mere inches from the ground.
"A-at once, Young Master Clark!" The Outer Disciple Wu Da trembled in his speech but aptly covered it with a forced exclamation at the end of his words.
The middle aged man shook in fear as he saw the dark eyes of this monstrous child bore upon his own in a gaze that was bereft of any pity or emotion.
It was akin to looking at his end. An ominous foreboding of doom and so much more wicked premonition that was better left unsaid.
'What has my sect invited into its doors this time?' Wu Da lamented in silence.
* * *
The convoy of flying swords landed in an ancient structure. This was an apt description for the said building because it has stood there for at least 20,000 years already.
But other than the fact that it was old and belonged to the antiquity of time, its appearance could not have painted a more contrasting facade to its otherwise lengthy history.
It looked as new as the day it was built!
There were tens of cultivators around this place and it can be seen from this alone of how frequently visited this particular spot inside the Demonic Sword Sect was.
This was of course the Assessment Pavilion which determined the destiny of the countless disciples within the sect.
They began their journey at cultivation inside this premises and they would only continue to do so in the years that followed.
'What remarkable spiritual energy! At least 50 times compared to that of Nexus City!' Clark inhaled carefully and he could taste the richness of the air in that single drag.
"Should I breathe a little bit deeper for a change?" Clark murmured but immediately got rid of the idea. The vision of a desolated city was still carved freshly on his mind at this moment.
"Right this way, Young Master Clark." Wu Da looked like a tamed sheep in front of our good gamer and he was only too smart to act like this today.
What he witnessed this 4th Stage Mortal Boy do to his colleagues was most certainly not normal in any way, shape or form.
It would need a pretty abnormal cultivator to mimic the same things Young Master Clark did to them earlier.
"Excellent." Clark smiled and was indeed so excited to get this over with.
He had planned to ace the test inside the Assessment Pavilion to get the best treatment available within this Demonic Sword Sect.
But alas, just as he was about to take his second step toward the gates of the archaic construct, an arrogant voice stopped him on his tracks.
"Hey, Wu Da! Leave those two women behind."
"I will personally escort them later myself."
"The rest... throw them out of my sight!"
'Looks like some people don't want to live anymore.' Clark shook his head and turned around to look at his latest prey.
He knew that this event probably happened because of his protagonist's aura but after he noticed the shiny red tag over the man's head, our bored gamer could only sigh in acceptance.
"So be it."